Thursday, May 8, 2008

Cleaning and a Reboot


Plush Gyoza
Originally uploaded by craftytails
The donation stash-busting brought a few lovelies to light today. You see, I took vacation days from work for the first time in a few years. Yes, years. I am bewildered by the amount of time I have been able to devote to crafty pursuits and general internet stalking, all things considered. I began to falter in both areas, so a few days off will do a lot of good for my craft room (and for terrorizing friends).

The craft room. This is a maelstrom of abandoned projects and shows my pack rat tendencies to a hideous degree. Thankfully, I have found a series of new projects which will de-stash a good portion of my other goodies. Fabric. Felt. Paper. No item is safe.

For the first time, I have a couple of days to devote to clearing out items I will never, ever use. This has been a weird trip through old memories believed to never resurface. Found objects include postcards culled for my mail art hobby during my life in New York. Some recollections were pleasant; some were painful. I felt a strong yearning to turn back the clock and start over. Deep down I don't really want this, as I learned an incredible amount about myself during the self-enforced isolation. The collections of found objects are a statement and help me remember the person I used to be. (I know this has been completely cheesy, but it is nearly midnight and red wine has been my loyal companion for the evening.)

Now, to the crafty part of the post. The plush pot stickers were sewn a few years ago before knitting took over my spare time. A friend of mine asked me to bring my hand-sewn items over so she could look at them. I lack sewing skills and thought this was a good way to make my mistakes look intentional. The tops of the dumplings are a simple running stitch which is pulled tightly to create a ridge. Most people already know this technique, but I felt clever at the time, OK? I have embarked on a new project which will clear out buttons, paper, miniatures, sewing supplies and anything else that suits the theme. I cannot wait to start! An afternoon with my laser printer should start the ball rolling, I think. (For those of you unaware, never use inkjet printers for craft projects that require glue or painting, at least for the projects we have started. These types of prints are water-soluble and will bleed like crazy. Joshua and I discovered our tactical error when making refrigerator magnets a few years ago. Bad times.)

Since I have a few days to myself, new photos will be taken of finished knitterly stuffs. Today was overcast and dismal, prohibiting good pictures. If tomorrow has better weather, I will photograph a few more items to post.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

See, and now I have to go out and get an enormous bag of gyoza. Screw SEWING them I want to EAT them.

They are cute though, the sewn ones. It's just that gyoza are my main favorite junk food.